by The MDTAXES Network | Jul 27, 2020 | July 2020 Newsletter
Looking for a company to help you with lease negotiating or with the purchase of commercial space? How about a company where the fee for their services is actually paid by your landlord or by the person you purchase the real estate from, and isn?t paid you?
We routinely refer our clients to Matt Kolcum and Stefan Zelich of Carr Healthcare Realty.? According to Carr?s website at www.carrhr.com:
CARR is the nation?s leading provider of commercial real estate services for healthcare tenants and buyers. Every year, thousands of healthcare practices trust CARR to achieve the most favorable terms on their commercial real estate transactions. We handle both lease and purchase negotiations for providers of every specialty and size.
With our no conflict approach, you can rest assured that your interests are always first and protected.
To contact Matt who works with dental practice owners or Stefan works with physicians and other healthcare specialties:
by The MDTAXES Network | Jul 27, 2020 | COVID-19, July 2020 Newsletter
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) PPE Subsidy is now available to ALL dental practices to help fund the purchase of the necessary protective supplies needed to safely practice.? Please apply for this HHS subsidy known as the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) at: https://cares.linkhealth.com/#/.
The deadline to apply for this subsidy has been pushed back until 8/3. We posted information about this subsidy at: https://www.schwartzaccountants.com/2020/07/7-24-deadline-to-apply-for-the-hhs-ppe-subsidy-equal-to-2-of-2019-collections/.
Easy to follow instructions can be found at: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/medicaid-provider-distribution-instructions.pdf. We can gladly help you out with this, and our fee to complete and submit the application will be only $500 per submission.
Please note that some dentists are concerned that accepting these funds will result in your practice being required to accept every PPO even if you never signed up to be in network with those PPOs.? That is mostly untrue. According to an email send by the ADA to their members:
Many of you have already applied and the number one concern we?ve heard has been about accepting the Terms and Conditions on balance billing, also known as surprise billing. The ADA worked with HHS to set the record straight and they?ve now clarified that:
- Dental providers who are not caring for patients with presumptive or actual cases of COVID-19 are not subject to balance billing prohibitions. ?Presumptive? is defined as a case where a patient’s medical record documentation supports a diagnosis of COVID-19.
- ?HHS thinks few, if any, dentists are performing dental work on active COVID patients. So, there should be very few dental patients covered by this bar.
- ?Qualifying for payment from the PRF has to do with past treatment earlier this year when HHS broadly viewed every patient as a possible case of COVID-19. Balance billing prohibitions apply only to treating current active COVID-19 patients with a medical record that supports a diagnosis of COVID-19.
For 2 months or so, people throughout the U.S. were mostly quarantined in their homes which substantially reduced the number of visits they made for medical and dental services.? For the Medicare and Medicaid systems, that means that very little money was spent during those few months.
The federal government is looking to find ways to get those unspent funds into the hands of healthcare practices to help them acquire PPE to keep their patients and staff safe.? The government is not providing these funds to trick practice owners into unknowingly signing up for programs that they would not otherwise sign up for during normal times.
by The MDTAXES Network | Jul 27, 2020 | COVID-19, July 2020 Newsletter
The word is that PPE is once again becoming challenging to obtain. One of our non-healthcare clients, GreenStreets USA Inc, a distributor of paper and cleaning products to businesses throughout New England, New York and New Jersey, notified me that they have stocked up on PPE and are now offering various deals to Schwartz& Schwartz clients.
For more information about tough-to-get-but-necessary PPE products, please call GreenStreets at (603) 889-8116 or email: info@greenstreetsusa.com.
Offerings include:
- GREEN RABBIT Safety 1st Five-Day Personal Protection Kit, Resealable Bag, 1 Kit $15
- Includes (10) Sanitary Vinyl Gloves, (5) Face Masks, (5) Alcohol Surface Pads, (1) 2 oz Hand Sanitizer, (1) Disposable Thermometer
Also available are:
- KN95 Face mask white – 20 per Pack For $69.95
- 3 Ply Pleated Medical Face Mask, 50/BX.? $48.00
- Cotton Face Mask with Antimicrobial Finish, Black, 10/Pack for $9.95
- Disposable face shield 13×10?,?one size fits all, clear 100/cs. for $350.00
- White polypropylene lab coat, Large Safety Zone, 30/cs.? $78.40
- Social distance floor mats, 24×36? RED/BLACK?? 1/ea.? $32.00
- Diversey VIREX TB disinfectant cleaner, lemon scent,?32 oz. spray bottles?? 12/cs.? $44.86/cs
by The MDTAXES Network | Jul 27, 2020 | COVID-19, July 2020 Newsletter
For 2 months or so, people throughout the U.S. were mostly quarantined in their homes which substantially reduced the number of visits made for medical and dental services.? For the Medicare and Medicaid systems, that means that very little money was spent during those few months.
The federal government is looking to find ways to get those unspent funds into the hands of healthcare practices to help them survive these challenging times.? The government is not providing these funds to trick practice owners into unknowingly signing up for programs that they would not otherwise sign up for during normal times. Please try not to be skeptical when applying for these government subsidies, regardless of whatever reckless and incorrect videos your colleagues might forward to you.
by The MDTAXES Network | Jul 27, 2020 | COVID-19, July 2020 Newsletter
The CARES Act provides for easy access to IRAs and other retirement plans for anyone who ?experienced adverse financial consequences as a result of closing or reducing hours of a business that you own or operate.? Sounds like a great opportunity, right?
Let?s start by saying that retirement accounts for working people should be used only as a last resort. That being said, the CARES act includes a provision allowing you to withdraw up to $100k in total from your IRA or work Retirement Plan penalty-free if you were affected by the virus. To qualify, either you or your family must have had a coronavirus diagnosis or you have experienced other financial hardships directly related to this pandemic crisis.
Please note that that this is a PENALTY-FREE withdrawal and not a TAX-FREE withdrawal. Remember, you generally pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty in addition to federal and state income taxes on any withdrawals taken from your IRAs or other retirement accounts before reaching the age of 59.5. The new CARES ACT rule waives the penalty but not the income taxes due on these distributions.
The good news is that you can pay the taxes due on the money withdrawn from your retirement plans ratably over three years. ?Plus, you have those three years to replenish some or all the money that you have withdrawn, and you avoid paying income taxes on any retirement funds replenished.
Another option is to borrow against your 401k or 403b plan at work, including the 401k plan sponsored by your practice. Under the new rules you can now borrow your full vested benefit, up to $100k, from your work retirement account. Previously, the limit was the lesser of 50% of the account balance or $50k.
There is a huge pitfall associated with these 401k loans. If you leave your job before paying back the amount borrowed and are not able to repay the remaining loan at that time, the outstanding balance is treated as a taxable distribution subject to federal and state income taxes plus the 10% early withdrawal penalty if you are under the age of 59.5. You are generally required to repay your 401k loan over five years.
More info about these new Coronavirus-related retirement plan rules is available at: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/coronavirus-related-relief-for-retirement-plans-and-iras-questions-and-answers.
Another recent development gives people until 8/31/20 to repay any Required Minimum Distributions taken so far in 2020, including RMDs from inherited IRAs.? More info is available at: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-announces-rollover-relief-for-required-minimum-distributions-from-retirement-accounts-that-were-waived-under-the-cares-act.?
by The MDTAXES Network | Jul 20, 2020 | COVID-19, July 2020 Newsletter
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) PPE Subsidy is now available to ALL dental practices to help fund the purchase of the necessary protective supplies needed to safely practice.? Please apply for this HHS subsidy at: https://cares.linkhealth.com/#/.
According to the HHS at https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/cares-act-provider-relief-fund/faqs/dental-distribution/index.html, to be eligible to receive the PPE subsidy equal to 2% of collections reported on the most recently filed tax return for your practice, you
- must not have received payment from the initial $50 billion Medicare-focused General Distribution,
- must not have received payment from the $15 billion Medicaid and CHIP Distribution,
- must have filed a federal income tax return for fiscal years 2017, 2018 or 2019,
- must have provided patient dental care after January 31, 2020,
- and must not have permanently ceased providing patient dental care directly, or indirectly through included subsidiaries.
- If the applicant is an individual, have gross receipts or sales from providing patient dental care reported on Form 1040, Schedule C, Line 1, excluding income reported on a W-2 as a (statutory) employee.
Easy to follow instructions can be found at: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/medicaid-provider-distribution-instructions.pdf. We can gladly help you out with this, and our fee to complete and submit the application will be only $500 per submission.
Please note that some dentists are concerned that HHS will post the name of any provider who receives funds through this program as well as the amount received.? According to the HHS at: https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/cares-act-provider-relief-fund/faqs/provider-relief-fund-general-info/index.html#payment-data
HHS has posted a public list of providers and their payments?once they attest to receiving the money and agree to the Terms and Conditions. All providers that received a payment from the Provider Relief Fund and retain that payment for at least 90 days without rejecting the funds are deemed to have accepted the Terms and Conditions. Providers that affirmatively attest through the Payment Attestation Portal or that retain the funds past 90 days, but do not attest, will be included in the public release of providers and payments. The list includes current total amounts attested to by providers from each of the Provider Relief Fund distributions, including the General Distribution and Targeted Distributions.
Should this public notification be a deal breaker for this program? We don?t think so.? If anyone (and most likely no one will) asks, simply point out that you fully utilized the subsidy received through this HHS program to enhance the safety of your patients and your staff during this pandemic.
